Emirates’ Online Bookings Soar

Emirates’ online bookings have soared in the first four months of its current financial year on the
wings of special offers and fares, strong demand for its services and a
user-friendly website.

In April passengers travelling with online bookings increased by 195 per
cent, in May by 230 per cent, in June by 225 per cent and in July by 154
per cent compared to the same months last year.

Reflecting the global reach of the airline, the top ten countries for
online bookings during this period include those from the GCC - the UAE,
Saudi Arabia and Kuwait; Europe - UK and Germany; Asia Pacific -
Australia, New Zealand, and Thailand; as well as USA and South Africa.
Bahrain and Qatar figured among the top 15 countries, signifying the
cyberspace savvy of customers in the Middle East, where in the last five
year growth in internet usage has been the fastest in the world, pegged at
more than 300 per cent.

Ghaith Al Ghaith, Emirates’ Executive Vice President Commercial Operations
Worldwide said: “We thank our customers for their vote of confidence. Over
the past few years, Emirates has invested significantly in its online
booking engine to make it dynamic, fully secure, faster and more
user-friendly. Coupled with e-ticketing in over 80 per cent of our
network, we were positive about the success of our online booking feature.

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“Having said this, our valued travel agents and partners still account for
the bulk of our total bookings. Last year, we launched websites in key
markets, designed specifically to assist our travel agents to sell
Emirates’ products and services.”

Emirates has been offering online booking facilities for several years now
and is available in 33 countries across USA, Europe, Africa, Middle East,
the Indian sub-continent, Far East and Australia. The customer-savvy
online booking site is also available in multiple languages -

French, German, Italian, Russian and English, with Arabic set to come on
board shortly.